When you think about certain things in comics, you realise that they don't really work. For instance, Spider-Man crawling on ceilings. Crawling up exterior walls I can buy, but interior ceilings is a different matter. Why? In modern office blocks, most ceilings are false - mere cosmetic coverings of ventilation, air conditioning and lighting systems, and all sorts of wires, tubing, and pipes. In houses, the ceilings are usually thin coatings of plaster on hardboard or some other relatively flimsy substance. Were Spidey to attempt to crawl along ceilings, his weight would surely bring them down.
Office ceiling tiles would collapse once he attached himself to them, and the plaster on home ceilings would come away on his fingertips, depositing him on the floor faster than a fart from The Flash! (Yeah, I know, different universe.) Funny how we never think of such things when we read our comics, isn't it, and how readily we suspend our critical and logical faculties simply because we want to believe in the impossible? Or am I too analytical and have it all wrong? Is there a way in which ol' Webhead could scuttle upside down on a ceiling without it coming away because of his own weight?
If you can think of a good explanation, deposit it in our comments section. And where's once-regular commenter TC these days? He hasn't commented in a while, so hope he's okay.
9 comments:
Something I used to ponder at length: superhero shoes.
For instance, how do Spidey's shoes work. They look like tights, which are clearly not practical for running around in, let alone leaping around rooftops and kicking ne'er-do-wells in the face. So, they must have some kind of rigid sole- maybe like a really tough insole, but how can Peter Parker get his socks and shoes on on top of an insole thick enough to provide the necessary comfort? Chances are that if he could, he'd be hobbling around like a man in new Doc Martens all day- and I'm sure we'd have seen JJJ mention that in one of his frequent rants- Aunt May would also have asked about poor Peter's feet too.
When we've seen Spidey's costume empty (like in Spider-Man No More or any of the 80s stories where Mary Jane had put his costume on a coat hanger in their wardrobe), the feet just hang like empty socks, no hint of any rigid structure to them.
I realised long ago that the best way to deal with things like this is just go with the flow and not worry about it!
I could also mention that superheroes apparently don't sweat while fighting. I've never seen Clark Kent walk into the Daily Planet after a battle and his coworkers shrinking back from the stench of sweat, or Perry White having a word with him about hygiene in the workplace. I suppose you could say that Kryptonians don't have sweat glands, but in the occasional scene in the Byrne era where we see Clark working out with some weights in his apartment, there will always be sweat drawn on his forehead!
It's bewildering.
I think your being a tad over analytical on this one Kid 😊. If you’re going to believe a person can swing through a city on a synthetic web (what’s that web attached to when he’s swinging down the middle of a busy NY city street ?) and can cling to the surface of any building, then I think you can ignore him walking on a ceiling. I used to wonder how James Bond could operate as a super spy when he cuts a distinctive figure and everybody seemed to know who he was. Of course it’s all about the suspension of believe, if James Bond operated like that he would be shot by the enemy before ordering his first Martini of the day.
And Steve Ditko drew Spidey's boots with thick treads on them to begin with, DS, so how did his feet cling to walls through thick soles? As for Superman, remember, DS, that Byrne's Supes wasn't as powerful as the Silver Age one, and had to shave and cut his hair - unlike his 'predecessor' pre-Crisis. Curt Swan's Kal-El could fly through the sun and not break a sweat, so presumably he was so tough that nothing made him sweat.
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James Bond works as a super-spy, McS, because his cover was that he worked for Universal Export (or Exports), so it wasn't unusual that he was known around the world's bars and hotels, etc. As for Spidey, swinging on a web can be explained by it being attached to flagpoles and the like, but ceilings would collapse with the weight of a human clinging on to them. There is an actual 'explanation', but I'll wait to see if I get a few more comments before I reveal it.
I'm pretty sure there's a Romita Spidey issue where he is down swinging down onto the Empire State Building.
Always wondered what the other end of that webline was attached to.
Helicopter? Thor? Large passing seagull? Other suggestions welcome.
Forget sticking to walls and ceilings, I want to know how he shoots a line of webbing at ground level and swings up from a standing start.
Uses his super strong legs to propel himself upwards, BS, just like the Hulk when he leaps?
It's never explained how Spider-Man actually sticks to walls - I know he's got "spider-powers" but what does that mean? A spider can climb a wall because it has hundreds of hooks on its' legs which latch onto tiny holes and crevices in the wall's surface that are too small for the human eye to see, but Spidey seems to stick to walls by magnetism and nothing to do with a spider's ability.
And I think a spider shoots its' sticky webbing out of its' @rse which Spider-Man definitely doesn't do.
I think it was once shown in one of the comics (a later one) that Peter Parker has tiny filaments on his hands and feet which enables him to stick to things, CJ, but that shouldn't work through gloves and shoes, should it?
Just like Spidey, I don't shoot webbing out of my @rse, but a lot of people say I talk through it. Whatever can they mean?
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